Is My Dog Gay?
by Angie Berthelsen
EDGE Contributor
Thursday May 15, 2008

Well, woof to you, too!
Well, woof to you, too! (Source:www.petstyle.com)
I was not prepared for what I would find when typing the words "Can my dog be gay?" into Google’s search engine.

I was bombarded by strange questions posted on websites and blogs about strange things owner’s make their dogs do (No, I will not repeat them!) and yes even videos created by people with way too much time on their hands.

As a dog owner myself I was intrigued and I will admit sometimes touched by the stories I found not just about dogs but about other gay animals. So in the spirit of this discussion I am compelled to bring up the story of four gay penguins.

Seven-year-old Harry and six-year-old Pepper are two male penguins who have been partners for three years. The two penguins live at the San Francisco zoo and are inseparable. "Pepper spends the majority of time at home and calling for Harry, which is typical of a female penguin," a zookeeper stated. Harry and Pepper are not the first gay penguins to make national news.

In 2005 a children’s book titled "And Tango Makes Three" caused quite the controversy. The book is based on the true story of two male penguins named Roy and Silo. Living at Central Park Zoo in New York, the couple hatched and raised a young chick named Tango.

Same-sex pairings are popular among animals. Reported species include flamingos, lemurs, monkeys, elephants, swans, giraffes and the list goes on and on.

After all my research I never did find what I was looking for, a great story about same sex dogs in love, similar to the story of Harry and Pepper. I’m sure that is a story still in the making.

Even if our pets or wild animals are gay, does it really matter? My female Chihuahua likes to hump my female cat and vice versa. Is it worth my time to question their motives and wonder their sexuality? Probably not.

What’s the bottom line? Well at the risk of sounding cheesy, whether you’re a dog, a penguin or a person, the sex of your mate is probably irrelevant when it comes to love.